With the rendering of the Brian Walshe verdict on Monday, we see an end to another murder trial that took the media by storm just six months after the end of the infamous Karen Read murder trial.

On December 31, 2022, Ana Walsh was last seen alive, having dinner at her Cohasset home with her husband, Brian Walshe. Prosecutors have stated that on January 1, 2023, Walshe killed and dismembered Ana, then proceeded to scatter her remains in various dumpsters across the area surrounding Cohasset. 

Her body was never found.

Walshe almost immediately became a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, which was backed by suspicious internet searches and purchases, including “what happens when you put body parts in ammonia”, as well as the purchase of a Tyvek suit, buckets, a hatchet, goggles, baking soda, and other cleaning products from a local Home Depot. 

After investigation of these items, the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory found both Ana and Brian Walshe’s DNA on the Tyvek suit, and Ana Walshe’s DNA on the hatchet, hacksaw, and other items. However, the final nail in Walshe’s coffin was the bloody knife found in Walshe’s basement. 

Walshe was finally arrested on January 8, 2023, and charged with misleading police, to which he pleaded guilty. Later that month, Walshe was also charged with Ana’s murder, a charge he denied. During the two week long trial, multiple motives and familial secrets were revealed to the jury. The big takeaways were that financial stressors could have prompted it. In this $1 million life insurance policy, Brian Walshe was the sole beneficiary, and even an affair between Ana Walshe and her boyfriend, William Fastow. 

After six hours of deliberation, the jury returned the verdict. The results concluded a verdict of life in prison without the opportunity for parole, due to his “barbaric and incomprehensible” actions.